Search query: Illinois

The "Under God" Controversy "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." (1892) It sounds familiar to many of us, but it doesn't seem quite right.  Growing up, I had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school.  As a child, the phrase "Under God," which does not appear in the above quote, never even registered to me.  They were just words to be recited along with the rest.  This may be because I was

(Credit: blogs.e-rockford.com) This week in Illinois, Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist and Republican candidate for governor, will be introducing a platform of term limits in Illinois. According to the Chicago Tribune, Rauner's PAC, the Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits, has raised over $205,000 so far. This would not mark the first time a concerted effort was made in the Land of Lincoln to limit the terms of Springfield politicians. As state treasurer, current Illinois gover

Demand, meet Supply Amidst some disenchantment with both major political parties, the chart above shows, when looking across the 50 states, the share of votes earned by candidates that were not either Democratic or Republican has fallen significantly for U.S. House of Representative elections since 2000. The State Data Lab resource (Votes Cast for House Election – Other), developed by Truth in Accounting, shows that states with relatively high shares of non-major party votes in 2000 also had s

Credit: scdd.ca.gov Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has introduced and passed AB-241, which writes a “Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights” into law. This is Ammiano's second try at such a bill, which attempts to solve the problem of low wages and unfavorable working conditions. According to the bill: “Domestic workers usually work alone, behind closed doors, and out of the public eye, leaving them isolated, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by some employers, and unable to advocate

When Illinois became the last state in the country to adopt concealed carry, many on both sides were left unsatisfied. Chicago grandfathered in its assault weapons ban. Other towns of at least 25,000 had ten days to enact their own bans under home-rule provision. The exclusion of an assault weapons ban was one of the points of contention that led to Governor Pat Quinn's initial veto of the legislation. As one of the country's most violent cities, such bans and strict laws carry much weight in I

anthonyturducken / Flickr Last week, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a magistrate judge's 2010 ruling that made cell phone data constitutionally protected from government intrusion under the Fourth Amendment. Cell phone data refers to calls, texts, emails, voicemails, photographs, Internet usage, and GPS tracking systems. Whenever a call is made from a cellular device, the carrier knows where the call is coming from. It needs to know this information in order to relay the si

Henryk Sadura / shutterstock.com Although there is still more than a year before Illinoisans begin casting ballots for governor, US Senate, and other offices, Illinois Libertarian Party Candidate Lupe Diaz will be making his case for Illinois' highest office. A former Libertarian Party (LP) chairman, Diaz used his announcement to target both major parties. Saying that the state is "in a helpless morass of debt due to fiscal mismanagement," Diaz began making his case that more electoral choices

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has exercised his pen-wielding hand to officially sign the state’s medical marijuana pilot program into law, which supporters are claiming is the strictest of its kind in the entire nation. The law in question doesn’t take effect until January 1, 2014, but rule making for the medical marijuana pilot program isn’t slated to be completed until the end of April 2014.  So, even though Governor Quinn has signed the bill, it could be as late as next summer before qualifyin

Henryk Sadura / shutterstock.com Nearly a month after the Illinois General Assembly overrode Governor Pat Quinn's veto of the state's long-awaited concealed carry law, one lawmaker is attempting to add an amendment. Illinois was the last state to enact a concealed carry law and the latest attempt to alter it is a state senator's campaign to ban concealed weapons from houses of worship. State Sen. Dan Kotowski, a suburban Chicago Democrat and a one-time gun control lobbyist, first floated the i

(Credit: WSIL) Choosing to leave his seat in the Illinois General Assembly, State Representative Mike Bost is hoping to capture Illinois' 12th congressional district in Washington. He is challenging incumbent Bill Enyart, a Democrat who is in his first term. Bost, a southern Illinois Republican who has served in the Illinois House since 1995, will formally announce his candidacy in Belleville on Monday. To date, Bost is the first major Republican to announce for the seat. During his tenure in